Monday, January 23, 2017

Integrity – Is It Still a Valid Value?

Cambridge English Dictionary defines integrity as “the
quality of being honest and having strong moral principles,” and “wholeness and
unity.”

I value integrity highly in my
life.We teach our children to have integrity.Growing up I was taught the importance of
living an honest life and having a set of good values.Both of my parents were involved in community
and charitable organizations.One of my
grandfathers was in sales and firmly believed in honesty and portraying an
image that exemplified his belief system.He used to tell the story of dressing in his suit to call upon meat
packers.This would be driving to what
might, in appearance, seem a seedy section of the city, enter a building where
bins of entrails (refuse) were being moved around and butchering was in
progress.Some of his associates laughed
at him for dressing up.He believed that
he was there to sell, so he should dress the part, not walk in like he was from
the meat processing line.While his
associates laughed, he was the one that was successful at his trade.He was a man of integrity.

What has happened to integrity
and honesty?When have these values no
longer become popular?How do we as
parents promote positive behavior in an environment where “fake news” is a
thing?As a project manager, if I were
to communicate “fake updates” to management, I am certain that management would
have some large, serious looking person escort me, with a box that was packed
for me, to the exit door.

We recently went through an
election cycle.Gab and Bec had the
opportunity for the first time to be involved, voice their opinion and
participate in the Presidential election.As a parent, I was excited for them, as I remember my first similar
experience.Living in a home with
positive values, allowed them to use their freedom of choice to vote for the
candidate they thought would best fill the roll.Truth is, sometimes my candidate wins, and
sometimes they lose.We taught the girls
that it is all right to be upset when you lose, but not to be sore losers.Some of our elected officials have been sore
losers (i.e., protesting outside an elected officials home…when they are not
there), some of our elected officials are KNOWINGLY BREAKING THE LAW (i.e.,
sanctuary cities), and some even ignore the items on their campaigns they were
elected for.Yes, we can teach our youth
the lack of integrity, the lack of honesty; but how do we reconcile the
re-election of these individuals?How do
they remain outside the law?

Let me be clear, my thoughts
are not directed specifically to one party or the other; for these issues
sometimes occur between different factions within the same political
party.The lack of integrity in politics
has been in existence for a long time.Seems
that as of lately, it has become fashionable to explicitly wear the lack of
integrity on our sleeves, promote not working together (an attitude of us
versus them is not successful thinking) and completely ignore the rule of
law.I will happily be unfashionable
this season, but glad to keep my integrity intact.